BETHESDA, Md.--The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Arthritis Foundation have formed the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium to support a broad-based research effort to search for genes that determine susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis. The group will support a consortium of 12 research centers that will lead the effort.
"The state of knowledge and technology today make this type of study possible," commented Doyt Conn, senior vice-president for medical affairs for the Arthritis Foundation. Peter Gregersen, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY, will head the program. He noted, "It will probably be fairly complicated, with different gene combinations involved in different people." The consortium has a web site at http://www.medicine.ucsf.edu/narac/narac.html.